Ash Wednesday and U2's "Bad"

A couple of years ago I wrote a Devotional for the season of Lent based on song by U2.  I decided this year to re-tool the devotional and publish it on my blog in the hopes of re-igniting my discipline of writing.  I used to write a lot, but have not had--or not made--as much time in the last 18 or so months to write as much as I would like.  So here is my offering to the void on this Ash Wednesday.

“12 Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; 13 rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing.” (Joel 2:12-13)

“This desperation, dislocation, separation, condemnation…isolation, desolation/Let it go and so to find a way.” The 40 days of lent tend to be a ritualistic surrender of something we love because tradition says we’re supposed to “give something up for Lent.” We give up chocolate; we surrender time spent on Facebook, or texting on our cell phones, or our favorite television shows for 40 days (ex-ing off every single day until Easter finally arrives). What if we made Lent an exercise in surrendering to God in each moment? Surrendering our isolation, surrendering our self-condemnation, surrendering our dislocation. What if we used Lent as a season of reflection to “let it go” so that we can grow in God’s Love?


A Facebook friend posted this thought today:  "What’s the difference between a flute and a stick in the mud?” our priest asked on Sunday. He then went on, “The stick in the mud is full of itself. The flute has been emptied of itself so it can make music.”


Lent is a season where we are called to re-turn to repent to stop juggling so much *stuff* so that we can take up greater quantities of grace, greater amounts of the presence (and presents) of God; it's about emptying ourselves so that we can play the music of salvation for the world to hear.


What do you need to let go of during this season of reflection so that you can live in and share God’s love more fully? Say a prayer asking God to help you “let it go” and then rest in God’s love for a minute or two.